Sarah Bisley, the Musical and Artistic Director of the Aorangi Symphony Orchestra and Aorangi Singers, has received the very prestigious Pro Cultura
Hungarica prize from the government of Hungary at a ceremony in
Budapest.

A rare
distinction, this prize honours artists for excellence in their promotion of
Hungarian culture. According to Hungarian sources, the Award has been granted
for the first time ever in the Southern Hemisphere – and is only the third
occasion where a Maestro outside of Hungary has been honoured since its
inauguration in 1985.

The
home of Ferenc Liszt, Franz Lehár, Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály, Hungary has
an enormous musical tradition, and one which has influenced many other famous
composers from central Europe. This award is broadly comparable to a top New
Zealand cricketer, rugby player or sailor being appointed as a coach in
England, France or North America.

In
Sarah Bisley’s case, the prize has been awarded for her production of
Kodály’s Psalmus Hungaricus. This was one of very few performances
of the work in New Zealand and the first to be actually sung in Hungarian.
Kodály originally wrote the work in 1923, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of
the unification of Buda and Pest, on either side of the Danube River, to form
the modern Budapest.

Outside
Hungary, Kodály is probably best known as the creator of the ‘Kodály Method’, a
system of music education based on singing the songs of one’s native country. As an early
part of his work, Kodály travelled around Hungary recording dozens of folk
songs on a phonograph.

One of
Kodály’s pupils, and later colleagues, was Erzsébet Szőnyi. The Pro
Cultura Hungarica prize awarded to Sarah Bisley also recognises the
premiere performance in this country, of Professor Szőnyi’s Concerto
per Organo e Orchestra. Along with Psalmus Hungaricus, this
work was performed in a concert at the Q Theatre in Auckland on 7 June 2015.

Says
Sarah Bisley: ‘The news that I had been awarded this prestigious prize came
completely out of the blue in late February this year. Of course, notable
mention should be made of the Aorangi Singers and the Junior Choristers of Holy
Trinity, who mastered the Hungarian language, and of the accompanying Ensemble
Polymnia (which is now known as the Aorangi Symphony Orchestra). The production
also benefited from excellent performances by tenor David Hamilton, organist
Myles Hartley and narrator Raymond Hawthorne’.

Sarah
Bisley’s links with Hungary began in 1982, when she was invited to study the
‘cello under Professor László Mező at the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music. At
that time, she learned to speak Hungarian fluently, and also travelled
extensively in Transylvania, the predominantly Hungarian-speaking region of
Romania.

In the
1980s, Hungary was generally regarded as having one of the highest standards of
living in Central and Eastern Europe, while Romania had one of the worst. Sarah
Bisley would take food and essentials from Hungary to her friends in Romania.
On an early visit to Romania, she was asked by an ethic Hungarian composer to
smuggle a copy of his music back to Professor Szőnyi in Budapest - which is how
she met Kodály’s former colleague.

Sarah
Bisley has returned to Hungary many times since the mid-1980s, during which
time the Iron Curtain has fallen and the country has changed enormously. She has also
lived in Austria, where her two sons were born, and France. Originally from
Hamilton, she has lived in Auckland since early 2008.

Adds
Sarah Bisley: ‘It was an enormous honour that the laudation at the ceremony
where I received the Pro Cultura Hungarica prize was delivered
by Professor Erzsébet Szőnyi herself. She is an exceptional human being, and
one who has been a teacher and mentor to many musicians, including me. She also
provides a direct and real link to the great Zoltán Kodály.'

Maestra
Bisley received the Pro Cultura Hungarica prize at the Kodály Museum in
Budapest on 26 May 2017. The prize was presented by Professor Mihály Ittzés,
the President of the Hungarian Kodály Society, and Mrs Anikó Krucsainé Herter,
Deputy State Secretary in the Ministry of Human Capacities, on behalf of
Minister Zoltán Balog. The laudation speech was delivered by Professor Erzsébet
Szőnyi, the famous composer and teacher who was a colleague of Zoltán Kodály.

Sarah
Bisley founded Ensemble Polymnia in Austria in 1994. She then worked tirelessly
to bring live performances to stage in Paris and the Versailles region, and
latterly in New Zealand.

In
concert, she has also conducted the Savaria Symphony Orchestra of Szombathely,
Hungary, Mariahilfer Oper in Vienna, the orchestra of L’Opéra de Massy in Paris
and the State Hermitage Orchestra of St. Petersburg.

Ensemble
Polymnia Trust was founded in August 2014 and now carries the trading name of
the